Wednesday 16th January 2008, 11:19New Year, Great OpportunitiesFor those of us who have had a holiday season, I hope you had a great time. 2008 brings some fabulous opportunities for A4e, services we deliver and our customers who utilise the services we provide. The back end of last year saw a lot of my time committed to strategic planning to ensure we have a clear view of the work we want to progress over the next 3, 5 and 10 year time periods. Having a good, clear and flexible view of where we are heading is an important part of increasing growth as a business.
2008 is quite a rare occurrence. With so much bid activity over the last 18-24 months, lots of the current work we have is in the middle of its business cycle. As such, it is a really important year for ‘delivery and performance’ – to do what we said we would for our customers. In simple terms, that means achieving our performance targets for helping people into work, upskilling them, providing advice, access to finance or legal support, helping businesses start and grow, supporting our supply chains, helping organisations access grants and support – the list continues to grow. Meeting our customers needs. This includes the people and organisations that use our services, as well as those who fund us – and trust us – to tackle some difficult service propositions.
This year will see more clarity and simplicity in our internal structures and as a result there will be a focus on ‘joining up’ our services for our customers. We need to start pilots and innovate with the range of services we offer to increase even further the accessibility and personalisation of our services. For example, we need to join our skills work on Train to Gain with our welfare work on Prime Contracts and Pathways. As the largest national supplier of both to the LSC and JCP, we need to lead in showing how we can help people enter work, retain their position and sustain their career through skills development. We have the contracts, we need the will to make it happen.
Along the same lines, we need to ensure all our customers in A4e access the legal aid services we operate if they need it. That our clients can access help in financial planning. That our business customers can secure the support they need to grow their business in consultancy and advice, as well as access our services to help them recruit and train our staff. That the excellence in service offer we develop overseas is routed back into the UK so we share our learning and ideas – import and export. All over A4e there are opportunities for this join up and it will be a key theme this year.
Of course, with lots of current business in mid-cycle, that means it is a good year for new opportunity. We have exciting new projects in new overseas markets we have been cultivating for the last 2 years as well as new opportunities in the existing international operations. In the UK, with the Comprehensive Spending Review at the end of last year and the Budget in March, there are lots of new opportunities to explore. Health and services for people in care are two big areas of development. Similarly, extending the work we do with local authorities and Regional Development Agencies as well as some new central government departments will be a priority.
Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales – with new powers of devolution, new governments and fresh approaches to the challenges in social policy – all require a focus driven by local leadership and teams who understand the customers and economy in which we work. As ever, embedding our services in local communities, reflecting and respecting the areas and countries in which we work and recruiting our teams from the areas in which they deliver sit at the heart of our business plans.
So, a busy and exciting year ahead with a lot of my focus on our growth opportunities and working with Emma, Bob and the Board, we will be making sure the business is equipped with the people, resources and structures we need to continue to develop an international business with a social business. As ever, my thanks to all our staff for their tremendous work, and best wishes for a great year.
Mark
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